- Rocketship PCS to be located in close proximity to halfway house [Options PCS, Harmony PCS, and Rocketship PCS mentioned]
- Report finds wide disparities in local per-pupil spending; D.C. charters spend most [E.L. Haynes PCS mentioned]
Rocketship PCS to be located in close proximity to halfway house [Options PCS, Harmony PCS, and Rocketship PCS mentioned]
The Examiner
By Mark Lerner
October 15, 2014
I tuned into the monthly meeting of the D.C. Public Charter School Board to witness the application presentations by two new charters hoping to replace the leadership of Options PCS. But there was another topic that dominated the night's discussion.
It turns out that the site upon which Rocketship PCS plans to open its $23 million complex in 2015 is located across the street from a public housing complex and in close proximity to Hope Village, a federal halfway house for rehabilitating prisoners. One of the local ANC Commissioners testified at last night's session that the halfway house contains individuals convicted of violent crimes and child sex offenses.
The identification of the three acre parcel in Anacostia sounds similar to the experience Harmony PCS recently endured. Rocketship investigated many possible locations including the closed Winston Educational Campus, for which the organization put in a bid but never received a response. Desperately running out of time, the charter then turned to the private commercial market. The charter management organization utilizes Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund to find and develop real estate. During the securing of the property Turner never discovered the presence of the halfway house. A PCSB public hearing on the location this August produced no opposition to the site. It appear that the issue of Hope Village has only now within the last couple of weeks risen to the surface.
Rocketship has moved quickly to try and mitigate any issues around its permanent facility. As their vice president for policy Katie Venskus patiently and professionally explained there is a memorandum of understanding signed just yesterday between the charter and Hope Village regarding the two entities working together. A detailed security plan for the school is in the process of being developed. Finally, a community benefits agreement has been drafted with Councilman Marion Barry's assistance and support.
Obviously, there is a process problem with the identification of charter school permanent facilities, perhaps because there is really no process at all. The issue of Rocketship's facility came up last night as the school asked for the lifting of the remaining conditions around its charter application. The PCSB delayed final approval until they have received the school's security plan, the MOU between the school and Hope Village, and the community benefits agreement signed by Mr. Barry. Rocketship was supposed to start construction on their building this month. The matter will be taken up again at the PCSB's November 3rd meeting.
Report finds wide disparities in local per-pupil spending; D.C. charters spend most [E.L. Haynes PCS mentioned]
The Washington Post
By By Ovetta Wiggins
October 15, 2014
Charter schools in the District spent $18,150 per student during the 2011-2012 school year, while Prince George’s County Public Schools spent $10,408 on each child it served, a significant difference between the highest and lowest spenders in the Washington region, according to a study released Wednesday by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
The study offers what Fordham President Michael J. Petrilli says is a sobering fact about the region: A student who moves just a few streets away, from a home in the District into Prince George’s County, could see a 42 percent decrease in the amount of funding the school district provides.
“That is going to have a huge impact on the learning experience,” Petrilli said.
While the Fordham study offers the per-pupil spending data in an interactive online map, its authors do not attempt to draw any firm conclusions about educational outcomes and a school district’s level of spending. Montgomery County Public Schools, for example, regularly rates among the top-performing districts in Maryland and spends $12,649 per student, according to Fordham, far less than the public school system in the District, which spent $15,743 per student but ranks poorly nationwide.
Prince George’s schools chief Kevin M. Maxwell said there are some small correlations between spending and academic achievement, noting that it costs more to educate children who have greater needs. But, he said, “I don’t know that I would call it a causation.”
See the interactive spending map
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute studied per-pupil spending in the Washington region, finding a wide disparity between -- and within -- school districts. Click on the map to see the interactive study findings. See the map. Maxwell said many other factors contribute to learning and achievement. “It’s more than about the money,” Maxwell said. “The question is: What is the strategy for getting greater success, and how do you fund that?”
Fordham researchers spent a year analyzing data from school districts and local governments and found that there are wide variations in per-pupil spending among school districts in the Washington area and some vast differences among schools within the districts.
Prince George’s County’s Barack Obama Elementary School spent $7,700 per student, one of the lowest rates in the region, while Judith P. Hoyer Montessori School, which had about 600 fewer students, was one of the biggest spenders in the county, at $24,042 per pupil.
Montgomery and Fairfax counties had similar disparities within their school districts, according to Fordham.
In Fairfax, which overall spent $11,704 per student in its public schools, Louis Archer Elementary School spent $8,980 per child, while Bucknell Elementary School spent $17,548, almost twice as much. In Montgomery public schools, College Gardens Elementary School spent $8,897 vs. $17,816 per student spent Washington Grove Elementary.
Petrilli said the study found that Arlington and Fairfax counties spent more money to serve students who attended schools with a high percentage of students who are eligible for free and reduced-price meals, a federal indicator of poverty. Other districts did not, he said.
At Bucknell, 75 percent of the students are eligible for free and reduced-price meals, while 8 percent of the children at Louis Archer come from poor families.
Judith P. Hoyer Montessori ranks as the second-highest spending elementary school in the region. Only E.L. Haynes Public Charter School in the District spent more per student: $25,051.
Petrilli said the report was designed to provide school districts, local governments and residents with a point of reference about school funding.
“School boards and taxpayers are operating in the dark,” he said.